Early introduction of trilingual education in primary schools in Ireland and Catalonia: a comparative study Thesis submitted to the Department of Education, National University of Ireland Maynooth, in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctorate in Education November 2013 Elena Prats Porcar, B.A. Volume 1 (of 2) Head of Department: Dr. Pádraig Hogan. Supervisors: Professor Tom Collins, Professor Aidan Mulkeen and Ms. Anna Ní Ghallachair Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted in any form for another award at any other university or institute of tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has been acknowledged in the text and a list of references is given. ___________________________ 15th November 2013 Signature Date 1 ABSTRACT The Irish language, despite being the first official language in Ireland, is an endangered minority language. It is spoken, as the daily language of communication, by less than 3% of the national population and only 27% of the Gaeltacht population. In education, two different Primary School Curriculum guidelines (one for Gaelscoileanna and Gaeltacht schools and one for national schools) reflect the different sociolinguistic roles that Irish plays within Irish society and the segregation existing between children of different linguistic backgrounds. Also, there is no language policy in Ireland for the teaching of foreign languages at primary level, which is in contrast to the support that the European Union gives to multilingualism from an early age. From a different perspective, at pre-service level, primary school teachers receive their training through the medium of English, which results in poor levels of Irish being acquired. Also, there is no training available for the teaching of foreign languages within the Bachelor of Education or the Professional Diploma in Education (primary level). The development of a combined language policy for primary education for English, Irish and foreign languages is a main component of this work. This thesis looks at the experience of Catalonia, where this challenge has already been overcome with regard to second language acquisition, and compares it with Ireland’s experience. In Catalonia, there is a long tradition of early immersion education in Catalan; the agenda has now moved to third language development through researching the most effective teaching methodologies. Consequently, this is a comparative study between Ireland and Catalonia based on two main research methods: firstly, a theoretical analysis of issues related to cognitive language acquisition and European and State policy regarding language status and language use; secondly, an empirical study (consisting of qualitative and quantitative data) of teacher attitudes on early trilingual education in primary schools in Ireland and Catalonia. Hence, we explore the proposition that Ireland requires an integrated national language policy that includes English, Irish and a foreign language in the Primary School Curriculum which is directed at the achievement of high levels of proficiency in the three languages by the end of compulsory education. The results of this study suggest the appropriateness of developing a trilingual education system for primary education in Ireland based on early total immersion in Irish and the teaching of an L3 as content subject (1st-4th class) and through Content and Language Integrated Learning (5th and 6th class). This needs to be accompanied by strong institutional support with a redesign of both the Primary School Curriculum and of the pre-service training of primary school teachers. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................................................. 14 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................................................. 21 LANGUAGE ACQUISITION, LANGUAGE EDUCATION AND EUROPEAN LANGUAGE POLICY ................................................................................................. 21 2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 21 2.2. Bilingualism and bilingual education ................................................................................... 22 2.2.1. Definition of bilingualism ............................................................................................. 22 2.2.1.1. Studies on first and second language acquisition ............................................... 23 2.2.1.2. Bilingualism in early childhood............................................................................. 29 2.2.2. Bilingual education ......................................................................................................... 31 2.2.2.1. Types of bilingual education ................................................................................. 37 2.2.2.2. Immersion education ............................................................................................. 38 2.2.2.2.1. Classification of immersion education programmes ................................. 43 2.2.2.2.2. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) .................................. 45 2.2.3. Trilingual education and trilingualism ......................................................................... 49 2.3. The rise of foreign language learning in education ........................................................... 57 2.4. Support received by minority and endangered languages within the European Union .......................................................................................................................................................... 67 2.5. Current issues concerning language teaching and learning in Europe ........................... 72 2.5.1. Age of introduction of foreign languages in primary education and range of languages on offer..................................................................................................................... 74 2.5.2. English as preferred foreign language in bilingual education .................................. 79 2.5.2.1. The use of English as lingua franca ........................................................................ 80 2.5.3. Time allocated to the teaching of foreign languages ................................................. 83 2.5.4. Language teacher education .......................................................................................... 84 2.5.4.1. Qualifications of foreign language teachers at primary level ............................ 85 2.5.4.2. Initial training of primary level foreign language teachers ................................ 85 2.5.4.3. Availability of training for primary level foreign language student teachers at primary level .......................................................................................................................... 88 2.5.4.4. In-service training for primary level foreign language teachers ....................... 88 2.5.4.5. In-service training of primary level foreign language teachers in the target language countries ................................................................................................................ 89 2.6. Chapter conclusions .............................................................................................................. 90 Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................................................. 93 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN EDUCATION AND LANGUAGE POLICY IN IRELAND .............................................................................................................. 93 3.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 93 3.2. Historical background ........................................................................................................... 93 3.2.1. The defeat and fall of the Gaelic order ....................................................................... 93 3.2.2. The establishment of a new order after the 17th century: the survival of Catholicism and the rise of hedge schools in education ..................................................... 96 3.2.3. Catholic emancipation and the introduction of education for all ........................... 98 3.2.4. The language situation in pre and post-famine Ireland ........................................ 99 3.2.5. The Revival movement ............................................................................................... 101 3 3.2.5.1. Attempts to restore the Irish language by Irish language revivalists ............. 104 3.2.6. The Irish Free State...................................................................................................... 110 3.2.6.1. Education in the New State ................................................................................ 113 3.2.6.2. Developments in the Gaeltacht ............................................................................ 119 3.3. Current situation of the Irish language ............................................................................. 124 3.3.1.